ALF THE ENTERTAINER

   photograph of the police band  but date not known

with thanks to Melvin HANN from his book “Bobbies on the beat 150 years of the Dorset Police. 

  Alf BARRETT started the police band when he took over as Deputy Chief Constable after realising there were some good musicians and entertainers under his command. No doubt there were a few internal police functions where they started and some fine tuning was required. Most of the officers involved were already at HQ or serving nearby.

   I believe the entertainers first became serious about performing, about January 1925, as the first mention of a public performance is to the inmates of the Poor Law Institution on Damers Road at Dorchester on 20^th February of that year.  There is no report of what happened that night but in the papers the week before, it was reported that the Mr A BARRETT, Deputy Chief Constable had agreed that the Dorset Concert Party would give a performance. It appears that the inmates had a weekly calendar of entertainments.

  The next performance that I can find, is at the Cerne Abbas Poor Law Institution, on the Sherborne Road which occurred on Tuesday evening 10^th March. The papers reported that, the large room was filled and a long programme was given, and each item was thoroughly enjoyed and heartily applauded. Those who took part were: Songs by DCC Alfred BARRETT, Supt William MILLER, Inspector Tommy CARTER, Inspector Frank DAY, Sgt  MILLER (not known, so probably Supt), Sgt Alec FOSTER, PC George BURT, PC Arthur KNIGHT, PC Ernie PAGE and PC Arthur ASHMAN. Stump speech by Insp DAY, monologue by PC Henry MARTYN, humorous skit by PC KNIGHT, and selections by the band. At the end of the concert the Institution board members thanked Mr BARRETT and he responded by saying that, if they had succeeded in giving the inmates a little extra pleasure in life, their energies had been fully rewarded.

  On Monday 27^th April Chief Constable PEEL YATES contributed his own bit of entertainment, when he gave a lecture to a large audience at the Queens Hall, Weymouth. The lecture was a graphic account of his experiences in Ireland with the Royal Ulster Constabulary before he came to England, on behalf of helping funds for the Police Court Mission.

  In October 1925, according to the Chief Constable, the band had improved greatly since he last saw them a few months ago, so obviously like any new formations they had some teething problems but now they had impressed him and other venues. That month on  Thu 10th October  they performed for the British Legion at the Cromwell Hall at Maiden Newton, where the locals were treated to a capital concert under the leadership of Deputy Chief Constable Mr A BARRETT.  Wives, friends and members of the Women’s Institute were also present. There was a selection of songs, sketches, and tunes from the “Jazz band”, with contributions from PC David BLAKEMAN, Insp DAY, PC BURT, Mr BARRETT, PC MARTYN, Insp CARTER, PC KNIGHT, Mr HYDE and PC PAGE. The fact it was now called the jazz band was obviously a influence of the time and the younger constables in the band. The artistes obtained many well-deserved encores and much applause.  

   Two weeks later they were entertaining the inmates of the Poor Law House in Wyke Road, Weymouth in the company of the Mayor of Dorchester and Chief Constable PEEL YATES. The programme included jazz music by the Dorset Police Band and vocal entertainers were, Insp CARTER, PC BURT, Mr BARRETT, PC PAGE, Supt MILLER, Insp DAY and PC MARTYN who were all accompanied by PC KNIGHT on the piano.  A man later stated that time had stood still when a 50-year-old clock had stopped at the establishment whilst police were giving the concert.

  On Wed 4^th November, the Chief was again in command when he gave another talk to the village of Shillingstone, where he lectured on “ Ireland in tragedy and humour”.  He spoke for 2 ½ hours .

  In December, on the 10^th the concert party were back again at the Dorchester Poor Law Institution, where the inmates were given a tea provided by Mrs J R GREGORY of High Street East, before being entertained by the Dorset County Constabulary Concert Party. Selections were played by the jazz band and again songs were sung by Mr A BARRETT, Insp CARTER of Dorchester, Insp DAY of Portland, Supt MILLER of Weymouth, PC MARTYN of Dorchester and PC’S BURT, KNIGHT and PAGE. Insp CARTER and PC BURT also did a duet.

  In 1926, the Police Band started the year with a concert at Alweston on Friday 29^TH January for charity. The article in the Western Gazette newspaper stated, that they have already given many successful concerts and now played to a sold-out crowd and the 21 pounds receipts were to go to the Bishops Caundle and District Nursing Association.  The occasion lasted for three hours and the jazz band included: DCC BARRETT who played three instruments including the harp and was helped by Supt Harry LAWRENCE. Others mentioned in the band were; PC KNIGHT who was an excellent pianist and PCs MARTYN,  Bill CHASE and Bill SAMS.  Humorous sketches were played by Insp Frank DAY from Portland and PC MARTYN and vocal entertainment came from Supt William MILLER of Weymouth and PC PAGE from Dorchester and PC BURT from Weymouth.  

  In Nov 1926 the party played at Buckland Newton. It was a cold dark night but it did not deter a good number of locals from welcoming the policemen. The program consisted of old and new numbers which were all received by the enthusiastic audience.  The band played lively airs and Mr BARRETT, Supt MILLER, Sgt BURT and PC PAGE were ballad singers of no mean order: while Insp CARTER acted as  a dual part, his song “Billy Evergreen”, being amongst the best items of the evening. The comedians were PC MARTYN and KNIGHT who kept the audience in good humour. PC KNIGHT also acted as the accompanist throughout the evening. Owing to a cold PC CHASE was unable to play the cornet solos which were billed. A sum of about 7 pounds was raised for the local church.

  On 28^th April 1927 the concert party travelled to Sturminster Newton where they entertained at the Poor Law Institution at Bath Road, Western Gazette article 06/05/1927.

  Harry Lawrence’s daughter wrote this about him:

” He walked, jumped, ran, and cycled and played tug-of-war for the police and was the all round champion of Dorset in his day. As well as all this he was musical and started the police band in our sitting room at the Constabulary. When he retired in 1927 the band was disbanded and he was left with many of the instruments. I can remember us having a piano always and, under the stairs, we had a double base, violin, banjo, zither harp, cornet, something called a banjolele, a mandolin and a ukulele. I am sure there were others; he used to get these out and play them all in turn; he enjoyed that immensely, but no-one in the family was the least bit interested. My mother had violin lessons as a young woman but it was such a rush for her to fit in the time, as she worked such long hours, that one evening after she had rushed away to get to the music teachers she fainted on arrival, so she decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

   I guess the band was reformed in 1929, as on the 18th February 1929 the concert party played again at the Poor Law Institution Dorchester, very little is mentioned of the occasion except the names of Mr BARRETT, Supt DAY of Wareham and Supt S LOVELL of Dorchester.

   On Friday 22^nd March 1929 the band took over the Evershot Parish Hall to play to the local community. The band were playing their 30^th concert of the season and consisted of:

PC    George    GRAY           piano

PC    Wilfred    VINEY          violin

PC     Alec         FUDGE         violin

PC     Reg         STICKLEY      violin

DCC   Alf          BARRETT      banjoline

PC      Arthur   KNIGHT       drums

PC      Bill          CHASE          cornet

   Songs were sung by PC PAGE, PC GRAY, Insp Tom CARTER, Sgt George BURT, Supt MILLER and DCC BARRETT. PC  KNIGHT sang whilst playing the piano with renditions of some humorous songs , which were followed by Supt F DAY’S stump speeches and a duet by PC PAGE and Sgt BURT. The performance ended with Insp T CARTER’s yokel character song.   Afterwards the hall was cleared for a dance, under the stewardship of PC Freddie DANN and the Police Dance Band played the music, with the proceeds of 17 pounds going to charity.

  The travelling band ventured to Gillingham on 2^nd March 1931 where they took over the Market Hall which had been arranged by the local Sgt Edwin DRAKE.  The band members on this night were: PC MARTYN, Insp T CARTER, PC PAGE, Sgt BURT, Mr BARRETT, Sgt KNIGHT, PC GRAY and PC Alec FUDGE.

   In 1938, on February 8^th the party played at Frampton Hall.   The entertainers still consisted of the regulars Mr BARRETT singing and playing the zither harp, Sgt George GRAY who was now the band leader, Sgt MARTYN, Supt T CARTER. New names were PC Bill LANNING who sang, PC Bill SYMONDS who accompanied the singers.